DDOT’s name for its Connecticut Avenue project has changed, and so has its timeline.
The project involves reconfiguring travel lanes and bus stops, and adding bike lanes to the 2.7 miles of Connecticut between Calvert and Legation Streets. Axios reported last week that the timeline for the project has shifted because DDOT “needs more time to consider suggestions from supporters and opponents.”
DDOT is still very much in the tinkering phase. As recently as January, DDOT told an ANC 3C committee that concept refinements would wrap up in April, and the design procurement process would begin this month. That would allow the engineering design process to begin this fall, and construction to begin as soon as fall 2024. DDOT’s project website now says “[t]he goal is to have the concept designs finalized by fall 2023.” The new timeline also extends the timing of the other upcoming phases, allotting 18 months for engineering design, which is to begin in spring 2024, nine months for construction procurement, and finally, 24 to 30 months for construction, which would not begin until late 2026. DDOT is now estimating the project will be complete in 2028.
In the midst of the concept design process will be another round of public engagement, and more opportunities for opponents and supporters of the bike lanes to offer their suggestions. Then, more rounds of public engagement and tinkering with the full design will most likely follow.
What’s in a name? Quite a bit, actually.
Since DDOT launched its initial study of safety improvements in December 2019, I have insisted on using the name the agency chose: the Connecticut Avenue Reversible Lane Operations and Safety Study. The reason? In the public debate, it had become the “Connecticut Avenue Parking and Bike Lanes Project,” and I worried that DDOT and the public would focus on parking and bike lanes at the expense of pedestrian safety and bus improvements.
Indeed, DDOT focused its block-by-block walkthroughs in fall 2022 on parking and loading needs, not on pedestrian infrastructure and bus operations. And, the mentions of pedestrians and buses during other public meetings seem like footnotes compared to the time and attention allotted to the other issues.
In December 2021, Mayor Bowser and DDOT announced the selection of Concept C, with bike lanes on both sides of Connecticut Avenue and the reversible rush-hour lanes gone for good. The project was referred to as the “Connecticut Avenue Multimodal Safety Improvement Study.” At some point in the months that followed, “Study” was swapped out for “Project.” Neither change is sufficient.
Names matter. They provide clarity and focus, and remind us of our priorities. And, a decade ago, pedestrians were DDOT’s top policy priority, as laid out in its first MoveDC longterm transportation plan.
So, I would like to see this “multimodal” project become the “Connecticut Avenue Pedestrian, Bus and Bike Lane Safety and Operations Project” with the modes of transportation listed in order of priority. I’m leading with pedestrians because, with few exceptions, everyone needs to use the pedestrian infrastructure to reach destinations along the avenue. And buses place high in the priority ranking as they provide the most efficient mode of transport between the Van Ness Metro north to Chevy Chase Circle, and for workers coming from east of Rock Creek Park to jobs along Connecticut Avenue.